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No inappropriate deal with Tories, says Coulson

Fri, May 11, 2012, 01:00

LONDON – British prime minister David Cameron gave a former tabloid newspaper editor whom he hired as his top spokesman access to some of the government’s most sensitive secrets while he did not have full security clearance, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Andy Coulson, a former editor of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World, told a government-ordered investigation into press standards that Mr Cameron’s Conservative Party had asked few questions about his past and had not carried out full security checks.

Mr Coulson took up the role as the Conservatives’ director of communications, helping steer Mr Cameron’s bid to become prime minister just six months after he stood down as editor of the now-defunct Sunday paper following the jailing of one of his reporters for phone hacking.

Critics say Mr Cameron appointed Mr Coulson in order to secure the backing of the journalist’s former boss, Mr Murdoch, and say the appointment showed a lack of judgement.

“Did you have any unsupervised access to information designated top secret or above? Robert Jay, the lead lawyer for senior judge Brian Leveson, asked Mr Coulson. “I may have done, yes,” he said.

“Did you ever attend meetings of the national security council?” Mr Jay asked about a body of senior politicians, defence and intelligence chiefs which is chaired by the prime minister. “Yes,” Mr Coulson told the public inquiry, which Mr Cameron ordered last year after the phone hacking scandal spiralled out of control, forcing Mr Murdoch to close the News of the World.

A full security clearance procedure includes a review of the applicant’s finances and detailed interviews about their past. Mr Coulson told the hearing yesterday that he had owned shares in News Corp while he worked for Mr Cameron, an issue he said could raise the potential for a perception of a conflict of interest.

He denied any “grand conspiracy” between media tycoons and senior politicians but did say that the fallout from the phone hacking scandal was forcing politicians to distance themselves from journalists and media bosses.

The involvement of Mr Coulson and another former editor – Mr Cameron’s friend Rebekah Brooks – turned the long-running hacking story into a national political scandal that has laid bare the close ties between senior politicians, the police and the media.

Mr Coulson, appearing relaxed throughout the hearing, was asked repeatedly why Mr Cameron and future chancellor George Osborne would have wanted to take on Mr Coulson when they were in opposition, with Mr Jay suggesting they were trying to secure the backing of Mr Murdoch’s newspapers.

“I want to make it quite clear that there was never any inappropriate deal between the papers and the party,” Mr Coulson said. There were no conditions or contingencies suggested or levied in return for a newspaper’s support.”

The Guardian newspaper, which broke the phone hacking scandal, has said it warned Mr Cameron against employing Mr Coulson, citing information it had but was unable to publish for legal reasons.

An updated biography of Mr Cameron, serialised this week in the Times newspaper, also reports that royal aides warned the prime minister that Buckingham Palace did not think the appointment of an editor of such a salacious paper would be appropriate. Mr Coulson had edited the News of the World when its royal reporter went to jail for hacking the phones of staff working for Princes William and Harry.

In May 2010 he moved into Downing Street as official spokesman, winning early plaudits for giving the wealthy and privileged Mr Cameron a better understanding of the average voter.